Relationship between the Development Rate of Executive Functions within a year and Screen Time in 5–6 Year Old Children from three Regions of Russia

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the relationship between the development rate of executive functions and the screen time in 5—6 year old children within a year. The study involved 495 children from Kazan, Moscow and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), who were 5—6 years old at the beginning of the study. The sample population was divided into three equal percentage groups based on the total screen time per week. This approach made it possible to analyze contrasting cases, that is, children with minimum (from 1 to 11 hours per week) and maximum (from 19.5 to 70 hours per week) screen time. It has been shown that the level of cognitive flexibility improved throughout the year in children with minimum screen time, and dropped in children with maximum screen time. In children with minimum screen time, the level of cognitive inhibitory control increased statistically more significantly over the year than in children with maximum screen time. For the development rate of working memory and behavioral inhibitory control, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups.